Please log in to continue

Not a subscriber?

New ice cream place — North Pole Creamery — to be in familiar location

Scott and Jessica Frederick are planning to open their new North Pole Creamery at 503 E. Emaus St. in Middletown sometime during the second weekend in July. The creamery will offer soft serve and hand-dipped ice cream.

staff photo by dan miller

Renovations are underway toward reopening this building at 503 E. Emaus St. as the North Pole Creamery ice cream stand sometime during the second weekend of July.

On those hot summer nights when nothing tastes better than an ice cream cone, soon you won’t have far to go to get one in Middletown.

North Pole Creamery, which will offer soft serve and hand-dipped ice cream, expects to open sometime during the second weekend of July at Rupp and East Emaus streets, say owners of the new venture, Scott Frederick and his wife, Jessica. The Fredericks will announce a grand opening date on their North Pole Creamery Facebook page.

The place is familiar to long-time Middletown residents as the former Cone-A-Cabana, the ice cream stand at 503 E. Emaus that was a summer staple in the borough for many a year.

Since Cone-A-Cabana closed in the early 2010s, several people have tried to make a go of running an eatery at the spot, without long-term success. The last attempt came when now-defunct Sweet Creams Cafe opened in the summer of 2014.

Frederick hopes to make it work by keeping things simple. He’ll focus on one thing and one thing only — selling ice cream that people want.

“There are too many other people in town doing food and things like that. They can probably do it better than I can. I just want to do ice cream,” Scott said.

“Good ice cream,” Jessica chimed in.

However, if you do want food with your ice cream, the Fredericks have a plan for that. Scott is working with local food truck vendors to see if they would be interested in partnering with him.

“We wanted to offer something different,” he said. “Not all the time, but have a food truck come in and park out front so people can get barbecue, some tacos, something different depending on the type of food truck, and then get ice cream” for dessert.

Frederick said he has also talked with borough officials and that they are OK with the concept, as long as he meets all code requirements.

Frederick said he doesn’t plan on having a food truck parked outside the creamery “every single day, all the time. Maybe just on weekends or a couple nights a week. Something different for the residents.”

Scott is from Williamstown and grew up in northern Dauphin County. Jess is from Manchester, York County. The Fredericks now live in New Bloomfield in Perry County.

Scott was in the Marine Corps as an officer in the early to mid-1990s. Following several years working for other people, Scott and Jess in 2012 started their own business, Xtreme Pro Clean.

The business does residential and commercial carpet cleaning, floor and other types of hard-surface cleaning, and power washing.

Xtreme Pro Clean is a three-time recipient of the Simply the Best award offered through the readers’ poll done by Harrisburg Magazine.

Scott always wanted to have his own ice cream place. His interest was piqued through his experience cleaning ice cream stores and restaurants that are Xtreme Pro Clean clients.

When Tim Clouser, a Realtor and a friend of Scott’s, told him of the former Cone-A-Cabana in Middletown being available, Scott checked out the place. The neighborhood feel reminded him of the ice cream stand he used to frequent while growing up.

Besides, Scott just likes ice cream. A lot.

“I love ice cream. She’ll tell you that is one of my favorite foods to eat,” Scott said, gesturing to Jess. “I eat ice cream almost every night.”

The Fredericks own their ice-cream making equipment, so they plan on being able to carry any brand and flavor that people want.

They’ve been spending the past several weeks cleaning up the place, both inside and out.

They cut down some trees that had died or had cracked limbs, out of concern that they could be a safety issue.

“We will get it looking nice again and have a place for people to come and enjoy their ice cream and have a good time,” Scott said.

They place a premium on cleanliness, which should come as no surprise since the Fredericks own their own cleaning company.

The Fredericks launched their North Pole Creamery Facebook page about two weeks ago, and it has about200 followers so far.

The response to their venture has been positive. Nearby residents are stopping in while the Fredericks are fixing up the place to extend warm wishes, said Jess.

“Everyone is excited to have it up and running,” Scott said. “A lot of people made comments about coming here as a kid because it has been here a long time. People say ‘I took my kids there’ or ‘I used to go there as kid’ when it was Cone-A-Cabana. They are looking forward to bringing their kids here to get ice cream.”

He’s surprised at how many residential clients he cleans for on the West Shore and in York County who know of the former Cone-A-Cabana.

“I tell them I bought this and they say ‘I remember going there.’”

The Fredericks will post job applications on the Facebook page for people to work at the creamery, although Scott isn’t sure how many employees he will need.

He will run the ice cream stand full-time. Jess works full-time for the state, where she has been for 25 years.

The Fredericks plan to continue Xtreme Pro Clean, although Scott isn’t sure what direction the cleaning business will take after North Pole Creamery opens.

Initially North Pole Creamery will be open five days a week 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The creamery will be closed Monday and will have limited hours on Tuesdays.

Since they only plan to sell ice cream, the business intends to be seasonal from about March through November.

The Fredericks may extend the hours in late summer or early fall, to handle Friday night home football games at War Memorial Stadium a few blocks away.

“If people are walking past the place before or after the game to get ice cream — if we close at 9 the game will still be going on,” Scott said. “We’ll look at the community and see what the community dictates.”

North Pole Creamery will accept credit and debit cards for payment, whereas the last owner of the business was cash only.